Rent Midnight in Paris (2011)

Magical Allen - Midnight in Paris review by HM

A budding author holidays in contemporary Paris with his Fiancé and her parents. On his own one night walking the streets he is enticed into an antique car by champagne revellers. Later he is taken to an apparent 20's theme party; but no, he is in the 1920s where he meets artists that populated the city at that time. Will he stay? Will he abandon his present for an alternative life rubbing shoulders with his heroes? Romantic and heart warming it is Allen at his best; he isn't in the film but the lead male character has his dialogue and Allen lives vicariously through the imagined character. Intelligent and amusing it is a refreshing reminder of what films can be with some effort!

Enchanting? We found it dull! - Midnight in Paris review by DH

Lots of people have said how enchanting this movie is. We found it ploddy, predictable and dull. We pre-empted the entire plot through to the inevitable conclusion. Yes Paris is pretty but it does not make a film. The speeches you can hear Woody Allens voice and his delivery in Owens performance. None of the characters are developed.

If you want mindless, light and frothy then this will do you. It felt like a rip off of Goodnight Sweetheart with Nicholas Lyndhurst just using a different time.

Magic Realism. - Midnight in Paris review by Steve

For many years, Woody Allen's characters fantasised about living in Paris... Owen Wilson plays a successful screenwriter who has just written his debut novel. He loves the city and dreams of the 1920s when it was host to American writers and the great artists of Europe. This is magic realism, and a close companion to The Purple Rose of Cairo.

Estranged from his materialistic fiancée and her rich, conservative parents, the author dreams so intensely of his golden age that he discovers a portal back in time, and meets Hemingway, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and Picasso. He gives his novel to Gertrude Stein. He explains his predicament to surrealists Dali and Man Ray.  

And he falls in love with Picasso's model/lover (Marion Cotillard), who herself dreams of La Belle Époque and Paul Gaughin and Toulouse-Lautrec, who in turn revere the Renaissance. The legends of the '20s are wonderfully cast, with Corey Stoll a stand out as Hemingway. It's a nostalgic reflection on the nature of nostalgia; an optimistic film which spills over with a love of life.

 And it's a spectacular flight of imagination. The photography of is drop dead gorgeous. The opening scene is a long montage of the landmarks which is more than touristic; it tells us, that this place is enchanted and to prepare for extraordinary things to happen. This is Woody's best film of the century.